Virgin M Plus conditions

Wsb5tails

Over 2 years ago I switched to Virgin M for the switching offer.  Since then I've been paying in £1250 per month and switching it out again, keeping £1k balance for the interest rate on both the current and Saver and kept 2 DDs running.
I cant see anything in the conditions that say I need to keep doing this.  There are no running account fees for in credit balances.  My £2k deposit and DD's will do me more good with other banks.
Am I missing anything?
I want to keep the accounts for flexibility and the chance to jump on any future Best Savings offers

Band7

You are right, you don't need to keep making deposits, and your money can earn a lot better interest elsewhere now. You can leave the VM accounts sitting there empty, and/or use the current account to go after another switch bonus if you qualify for one.

Empty the savings account before you switch as you won't be able to get any money out of it once the current account has been closed. The VM literature says they will close the savings account when the current account gets closed but this does not appear to happen in practice. Obviously, the savings account doesn't get switched to anywhere, either.

blue.peter

Band7 said:

Empty the savings account before you switch as you won't be able to get any money out of it once the current account has been closed.

Is it really as simple as that? I don't disagree in principle, but I think that the timing is important. Interest on the M Plus savings account is paid quarterly - at the end of March, June, September and December. So simply emptying the account on any day other than 1 January, 1 April, 1 July or 1 October would mean losing any interest due since it was last paid. I think that the way round this would be to phone VM/visit a branch and have them actively close the savings account and transfer the balance + interest due.

I'm happy to be corrected if you know better.

Obviously, 1 January comes in a week or two, so that might be a convenient opportunity to empty a savings account for someone currently planning a switch of the current account.

Band7

You are right, if not on the 1st of a quarter, you need to close the savings account rather than just empty it. You can close at any point in time as interest will be paid on closure.

Sorry, I have no idea what's involved in closing a VM Plus Saver as I have never bothered closing any of mine.

ColdIron

blue.peter said:

Band7 said:

Empty the savings account before you switch as you won't be able to get any money out of it once the current account has been closed.

So simply emptying the account on any day other than 1 January, 1 April, 1 July or 1 October would mean losing any interest due since it was last paid.

You won't lose the interest if you empty the account. Interest is calculated daily and the amount accrued so far will just be paid at the end of the next quarter

If you close the account you'll still get all the interest but without having to wait for it

pedrodelgado

Band7 said:

You are right, you don't need to keep making deposits, and your money can earn a lot better interesthatt elsewhere now. You can leave the VM accounts sitting there empty, and/or use the current account to go after another switch bonus if you qualify for one.

Empty the savings account before you switch as you won't be able to get any money out of it once the current account has been closed. The VM literature says they will close the savings account when the current account gets closed but this does not appear to happen in practice. Obviously, the savings account doesn't get switched to anywhere, either.

That's happened to me. Closed a virgin account and thought the linked saver would be closed automatically as it says. Went to open a new virgin account for the switch bonus earlier this yr and found out that the saver was still open therefore I couldn't qualify for the switch. I complained and upshot is, 4 months later they have just got around to offering me £100 compensation. 

Band7

ColdIron said:

blue.peter said:

Band7 said:

Empty the savings account before you switch as you won't be able to get any money out of it once the current account has been closed.

So simply emptying the account on any day other than 1 January, 1 April, 1 July or 1 October would mean losing any interest due since it was last paid.

You won't lose the interest if you empty the account. Interest is calculated daily and the amount accrued so far will just be paid at the end of the next quarter

If you close the account you'll still get all the interest but without having to wait for it

True - but the potential pitfall is that you can't get the interest out of Virgin once it has been credited at the end of the quarter if by then you have closed your only Virgin current account.